clicked on open game dir, went into my saves folder, then I transferred my map to that folder
That is the right way, but make sure what you are dragging in is a folder with files like level.dat inside directly, not something like dir/to/Map/ which has a folder in it like Parkour, which is the actual map. If there is a level.dat directly in the folder you dragged in to your saves folder, you should be good.
Not only that, but the maps that I created are gone as well!
Without more information, all I can suggest is,
- Under
Edit Profile in the Minecraft launcher, is the box that says Game Directory unchecked? (Or, is it correct if you actually use this feature?)
- Is anything under
saves in the .minecraft(or minecraft on a Mac) folder? Access it using the Open Game Dir button, or go to the search bar and type %appdata% and find .minecraft on Windows, or go to ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/ on a Mac. If not, you likely can't get them back without a backup.